Phoenix Rising: PREVIEW
by Maglyt1
Summary: Preview! The rising flame's through High Lagaard's Labyrinth, who will rise from the ashes? Who will fall to the past?
1. Chapter 1

A stormy night sang, as thunder made a crescendo with a flash of lightening. In the darkness of a forest a muddy blue coated figure trudged forward, through rain and wind. Any sane person would be safe inside home, but not her. The blonde haired girl was alone and cold. Hunger and fatigue clawed at her, threatening for her to faint. But she kept at it, hunger and fatigue were nothing compared to shame and guilt. Hunger was a pain in the stomach, guilt was a pain in the soul. It was a wound in the heart that felt like it would never heal. Defeated blue eyes looked ahead as a rickety old tavern came into view. No, she didn't plan to stop. The young girl had no money, no way of paying for food and a warm bed. It's fine though, she didn't need it! Another clash of lightening followed by the discord of thunder, the blue clad girl continued on. She could hear laughter and music in the tavern, she yearned to go in and just talk to someone. Maybe the owners would pity her and give her leftovers meant for the pigs. How long has it been since she had human contact? Too long, a human needed contact with one another, yet this one refused it all. She was a wall of ice, cold and disconnected. So focused on her mission, fatigue finally took over. Face down in mud the girl slowly raised her head.

"I couldn't even make it." She laughed, so full of bitterness it burnt her. "I truly am pathetic." Everything slowly faded away, but the girl swore she heard someone calling to her before the world went black.

* * *

Becoming conscious are young girl began to take in the world around her. The voices were clearer to her, the rain had stopped yet the storm continued, and the scent of food was making her stomach growl. Opening her eyes she saw that the trees had been replaced with wooden walls, and the stormy sky a ceiling. Taking in her new surroundings she even realized that she was now in a comfy warm bed with new clothes on, and she wasn't alone either. The small room held her bed, another empty one, a fireplace, and two chairs. One was besides her bed, holding her travel pack, the other in front of the fireplace, holding another girl. Sitting on it, the rich purple hooded figure was oblivious that her guest had awoken. Shifting her weight, the blonde dropped onto the floor, the noise caused the hooded one to quickly turn and stared. Soft blue eyes met confused darker ones, as the light violet haired hooded girl hopped off her chair and **floated **away. The blonde couldn't believe it, the hooded one had chains around her legs making it impossible to walk, seemingly. Most likely a Hexer then, only they were bonded in such a way. A Hexer's power was unbelievably strong, so by law they had to bind their arms and legs to hold it back during battle. Fighting an unbound Hexer was fatally dangerous, but the girl who was there before seemed so young. 8 or 9, that's how old she seemed to be. Forgetting about the Hexer girl momentarily, the blonde padded over to the door, timidly opening it up peeking to the outside. The girl before was completely gone out of sight, the hallway leading to another room. Chatter and music came from that direction, and that meant people and food. Agh yes, the girl was nearly drooling, it smelt so good! The aroma of soups and stews, freshly baked bread floated throughout the tavern and into the blonde's nostrils. Her fatigue was gone, but the hunger and guilt still stayed, but she let her guilt go. She had a chance to live, and guilt could wait.

Slowly she made her way down the hall into a large dining area and kitchen. Some burly brunette man was labeling out some sort of soup and drinks, while a young blonde boy gave out bread and butter. In the kitchen a skinny woman was cooking up a storm, chatting and laughing with other guests as she made mouthwatering food.

"Oh she IS up!" Another female ran up in front of her, as happy green eyes gazed down. Bubblegum pink hair and tan skin, she was dressed in a skimpy dancer attire, yellow in color and finally feathered. "You gave us quite a scare with you falling down in the mud and all. Hazellea says you're gonna be just fine though. She says though that you are very malnourished, so come down and sit with us! Don't worry about money kid, tonight it's on the house!" The friendly stranger smiles down on her leading her to a table of 2 other skimpily dressed woman, one man, a girl dressed as a witch, and the hooded girl from before. "Sit down, we don't bite. Well maybe Diego might, but he's friendly!" She laughed as everyone else, but one pink haired girl and the blonde herself stared.

"Don't joke about Diego like that! He won't bite you, not matter what these bigots say." The pink headed girl smiled, hair in pigtails, and grassy green eyes. Her attire was all pink, frou-frou, and feathery. It reminded her slightly of an over excited flamingo. "I'm Perri, and I'm part of the Quester Quartet! My big sis, Memeto is our leader, Armando, her husband plays our music, and Diandra protects and dances with us!" Perri made extraordinary hand gestures, showing off each person. Memeto proved to be the other pink haired skimpily dressed in black leather with dark purple feathers. Her hair was also in pigtails, but in a corkscrew like fashion held up by red ribbons, with sly purple eyes. She grinned, reminding the blonde of some sort of feral cat.

"Pleasure to meet you." Memeto purred, wrapping her finger around a pink ribbon wand. Next to her sat Armando, a man with long blonde hair with cloudy blue eyes. He was simply strumming on some sort of guitar, focusing purely on his music and not the world around him. "Deary, introduce yourself." Shocked, the blond male turned his head to the stranger and gave off a friendly, almost fatherly like, smile.

"Agh! I'm sorry, I'm Armando." He laughed, giving his instrument another strum. "I get so lost in my music sometimes I forget we have a special guest. Notes flowing into melodies, unfolding into symphonies... agh you don't want to hear me speak. I will sing to you later, sí?" His face so full of hope, our little lady could only nod giving him a small smile.

"Oui." The witchy woman all dressed in red responded. "I am Azellea, zee one who ealed you. I'm a skilled War Magus, no? But you are very malnourished little one, please eat to your eart's content. Zee's lovely people are paying for us tonight." She laughed, bringing her tankard of ale. Her accent was very thick, most likely a foreigner from Sagal. She laughed again taking a swig of her drink, nearly tipping off her chair. This blue eyed blonde definitely could not hold her liquor.

"Her accent isn't always this thick," Perri informed helping Hazellea stay up, "once she's in the cups though she seems to revert a little bit." The final skimpy dressed woman was the one in yellow from earlier.

"I'm the last dancer, Diandra. I was the one who carried you in AND that's an old nightshirt I used to own that you're wearing. Don't worry you can keep it, soft isn't it?" She was another friendly smile, and her old clothes were very comfy.

"What of this girl?" She moved her head in the direction of the Hexer girl from earlier, who had stayed silent the entire time.

"Oh she is our daughter, Eliza say hi." Memeto was a mother? She seemed like she was 24, and the girl looked nothing like her nor Armando!

"She's their adopted daughter," Diandra whispered as Eliza just stared blankly at the blonde, "Meme found her all alone when she was only 4. She and Armando have been raising her for 5 years together. They're newlyweds and excellent parents. Eliza is also...a little shy." Eliza had yet to make a word, she only stared.

"And what is your name strang-oh time for our show! Mind making sure Hazellea doesn't fall off her chair?" Perri pushed the drunken girl onto the stranger and scampered off with Memeto, Armando, and Diandra. Leaving her all alone with a drunken War Magus and near mute Hexer. Wonderful.

"You're from the North?" The young girl took her by surprise when she finally spoke.

"Da, I'm from Neall." Her own accent was much lighter than Hazellea's, but it was still present marking her of the North.

"The Lady will be pleased to hear so." She smiled and then floated off, leaving our blonde haired hero in complete confusion. Did she mean her mother? Bah, children were weird. Slowly eating her stew and bread she watched the Quester's performance. It had lots of dancing and singing, Armando did have a fabulous singing voice.

She had to admit, they were all pretty good. Each song included lots of leaps, pirouettes, and that ribbon wand was used so elegantly by Memeto. She cheered and clapped once the performance was over, watching the four continue with a demand of an encore.

"They are good, no?" Turning her attention on Hazellea, our heroine quickly pushed her back up seeing she was about to topple over again. "A spectacular performance. Bravo!" She clapped, turning her flushed face towards the other blonde. "I never caught your name stranger, do tell moi what eet is."

"Svetlana. My name is Svetlana."

**Hey guys! This is going to be my preview to my Etrian Odyssey 2 story, Phoenix Rising! By preview I mean I'm only going to put up the first few chapters leading to High Lagaard then ending it until I re-get the game. I really wanted to write this out and work on that character's, but it just didn't feel right putting out the entire story without the game. Hopefully by the end of summer I'll begin playing and I'll start working on this again! Well enjoy the other preview chapters of our current heroes. Perri, Memeto, Hazellea, Diandra, Armando, Eliza, Diego?, and Svetlana! Sorry if some came off as flat in character, like Svetlana, but over time they will build up! Also if you didn't catch it, Hazellea is supposed to be this worldly French and Svetlana Russian. I decided to just make up lands and Countries because...I really can't see France and Russia in the world of Etrian Odyssey! I'm sorry I just can't. Well hope you enjoy :)**

**Sagal- Basically this world's France.**

**Neall- This world's Russia.**


	2. Chapter 2

Svetlana woke up with a pounding headache. Damn, getting into a drinking contest with Hazellea was a bad idea. Even for her age Svetlana believed she could hold her liquor, but the other girl had matched her cup for cup. Now both suffered with a wicked hangover, even though Hazellea was snoring softly in the other bed next to hers. How early was it, hard to tell in a windowless room? Yawning, Svetlana stretched out her arms and sighed. Stupid move getting drunk around strangers. Oddly enough though she felt that they were trustworthy people. Obviously people like Hazellea and Diandra had only known the group for a little while, yet they fit in like peas in a pod. Sure she felt out of it, but everyone had been so friendly and nice. It was like having a family...

"Morning." Came a male's voice, breaking Svetlana out of her thoughts. It was certainly not Armando's voice either. The chair in front of the now dead fireplace held a different male. Blue haired, pale skinned, decorated completely in leather, piercing blue eyes, and freaky shark like teeth that showed when his lips curled into a smile. The male stranger simply sat up and stalked over towards her, who acting fast pounced on him once in range. "The hell are you doing?" The guy asked, as he groaned out in pain, she didn't care. Quickly her fist connected with his nose, as the force of the punch made the stranger yell out in complete pain.

"Is everything all right!?" The door opened revealing a flustered Perri, who screamed when she saw Svetlana attacking the stranger. "Oh no! Oh no!" Oddly enough Perri pushed her off of him, helping the boy up. "Are you ok, oh dear. I should have known this would happen. Diego stay with me!" She was in complete hysterics over this guy, who was he? Then it occurred to the blonde that there had been another male mentioned, and that his name was in fact Diego. Oops.

"What happened?" The noise must have woken Hazellea, she was now groggily stomping forward towards him. "Egh? Who attacked him?"

"She did!" A pale finger pointed in Svetlana's direction, as a wave of guilt washed over her. "I was just checking up on you two and she attacked me." Weird, he seemed so scared. The guy looked so predatory before, like a stalking tiger. But now he seemed as harmless as a mere house cat, big blue eyes and a bloody nose.

"Oi Diego, don't you know waking up a stranger with hangover is dangerous? Agh let me see your nose. Quit whimpering like a puppy, it's not broken. Svetty," the War Magnus turned to her and smiled, "it seems he is a bit afraid of you. Mind leaving with Perri while I patch him up?" Svetlana nodded as she picked herself up off the ground and trudged out.

"I'm not leaving him!" Perri stood her ground firmly, causing Hazellea to sigh.

"Fine you can stay. Now let's fix up your little booboo." The last thing Svetlana saw was Hazellea pick up her wand-sword and touch it against Diego's bloody nose.

* * *

"Sooo about the commotion earlier, what happened?" As soon as she sat down Memeto had to ask about the noise. Who knew she was that loud?

"I accidently attacked Diego…." The all looked rather shocked as she retold the story, the only one who had an unchanged face was Memeto and Eliza.

"I see. Well I should have considered you haven't met him yet and this could have happened. Still, you should apologize." She nodded at the pinkette's words.

"I will, it's just…..he seemed so scary. Like a bandit, I only wanted to defend-OW!" The Dark Hunter had bonked Svetlana on the head!

"Don't ever judge people by appearance. That is our number one rule."

"But-"Before she could even object purple eyes pierced her, and that was the end of that fiasco. "I will apologize later."

"Good to hear that." Diandra clasped her hand on the shoulder, giving off a friendly smile. Svetlana almost couldn't believe it was her! The skimpy outfit had changed into heavy armor, sword, shield and all!

"Well it's still storming, but an old man said tomorrow would be bright and sunny. I'm going to work out a routine, come Eliza." She beckoned her daughter forward as the two walked, and floated, off to their rooms.

"Why is she so mad?" Armando sighed at Svetlana's question in response before his explanation.

"Meme and Diego were close friends when they trained in their dark arts. Lots of people, like you, have misjudged the poor lad and treated him horribly."

"Even his own family referred him as their 'demonic child'." Diandra quickly added in. "Such a shameful and cruel world."

"My wife had enough of Diego receiving insults, he is a wonderful man after all. Very artistic, loves playing with Eliza, gets along very well with Perri, and even I have come to see him as a brother. Back to the story, well she was sickened by his treatment. So after they passed their training, she took him in. Gave him a home, a job, a family….and even a lover." He winked at Svetlana's confusion. She turned to face Diandra but she shook her head.

"Not me, the final pinky of our group." She gasped, Diego and Perri?

"My sister-in-law is not as young as you think. She is 3 years younger than Meme, making her 21." Svetty could have collapsed from shock. Perri seemed like she was at the tender age of 16, around her age! "Ahaha! The most important lesson you will ever learn from us, never judge on appearance. A harmless old man may try and kill you one day, and a guy like Diego will save your life." He laughed, it was highly unlikely. But still he had a point.

"I will keep that in mind Armando." She smiled up at him, which was returned with his own bright one.

"I'm overjoyed to hear so, as will my wife. Now if you will excuse me I have some songs to write." He too got up and left, leaving Protector and Svetlana alone.

"So then Svetty, I think this is the perfect time to get to know one another. I remember last night you mentioning you were a Gunner?" She blushed, how much did she spill last night?

"Da, this is true. My gun is in my coat, which I'm unable to find." In response Diandra chuckled as she reached to the spot next to her pulling up the now clean blue coat.

"We cleaned it for you, and the gun is in the holster. I trust you won't use it on us?" The Gunner nodded, pulling the beloved clothing onto her lap. It felt pleasing having something she was used to close at hand. Plus having her gun again was an added bonus. "Ok, well what else do you want to tell me? Where do you come from? What's your family like? Where are you traveling? Why are you traveling?" The bombarding of questions surprised her, but she attempted to answer them.

"I come from Neall, my family consists of my cousin and uncle. I lost my parents at a very young age, and my cousin lost his mom to. My uncle was my mother's cousin, so he had no problem taking me in." Throughout her tale Svetty stayed straight faced, she no longer held the pain of losing them. "I travel to High Lagaard for…." She bit her cheek, could she really tell them the truth? "Fame and glory." Diandra gave a knowing nod.

"Well besides my last question, thank you for answering honestly. I myself come from Etria, you've heard of it right?" She nodded to the girl's question, who hadn't heard of Etria? "My own cousin was part of the exploration guild that solved the Labyrinth there. I lived with him and my half-sister. A wonderful woman taught me the ways of the Protector. She was the leader of said guild, and my idol. Well since the Labyrinth was solved I too am heading to High Lagaard for the same reasons. Hazellea is heading there too, as well as the Quester's. My sister was a Troubadour, she had connections with these guys. So I hitched a ride with them promising to protect and dance. Though I've grown attached to everyone on my journey, it's going to hurt when they leave." She sighed, but kept on that small smile. "My reason is the same as many others, to solve the mysterious Labyrinth!" She gave off an extravagant pose when she announced her reason. It was indeed completely necessary.

"You're joking right?" The pinkette grinned, shaking her head.

"Nope, some people just want to adventure for the sake of adventuring! That's what my mentor taught, and High Lagaard seemed like a great start."

"Hey Diandra…."

"Yeah sure."

"How did you know what I was going to ask?" Svetty was completely stunned that she had known what she was going to request.

"It's rather obvious. I'm going into the Labyrinth, and so are you. Let's team up then! Hazellea can also join us, now we have three out of five members. Makes things easy!" The Gunner gaped, causing the Protector to snort out a laugh. "You really should close your mouth. You kind of resemble a fish." Svetty closed her mouth, but was still slightly dazed. Did she now just gain three members?

"O-ok, are you sure Hazellea wants to join me…us?" Diandra nodded, her greens eyes practically sparkling.

"Oh yes, she took a liking to you last night. Besides you, owe her for taking care of you!" Well no arguing with that.

"Ok, I'll make her an official member of our Guild once we get to High Lagaard." The two shook on it, and continued eat breakfast. They chatted idly after, but nothing to interesting was passed between -them. Over time the hangover also went away. By the time the two were done it was nearing noon, so Diandra took it upon herself to bathe before the next day. She also **highly advised** Svetty to do the same, which consisted of shoving her into a cold tub. At least she had the decency to strip her first.

* * *

It was nearing evening, and the storms had finally passed. The day had been rather calm, Svetty spent the entire day with Diandra and Hazellea. They played cards and discussed plans for the Labyrinth.

"Svetty fetch Diego, and Perri for dinner! They're outside with Eliza!" Following Memeto's orders she cautiously headed out, she hadn't seen the two since the incident in the morning. Opening the door, she wondered if Diego would be mad. He sure did have enough reason to be. Turning behind the building Svetty saw the three having a merry good time. Diego was sitting back against the building sketching something while Perri and Eliza played some sort of game.

"There's dinner if any of you are hungry." Both Perri and Eliza looked up from their game instantly, while Diego just stayed there, sketching.

"You coming Diego?" He shook his head at Perri's offer, his nose was bandaged Svetty noted.

"I'll finish this up then head in, go on I don't want to keep you." The Troubadour whisked away, but those green eyes impaled Svetty before she was out of sight. "Anything else?"

"Yeah." She cleared her throat, walking closer to the Dark Hunter. This was going to be a bit difficult. "You see I'm sorry for earlier. It was wrong for me to….attack you." He looked up at her, blue orbs meeting blue. Surprisingly his expression was soft, not a hint of anger in him.

"Don't worry about it, if I had a mirror I'd probably pounce myself." He laughed, full of bitterness.

"They told me about you…..I am truly sorry." He laughed, this time more light hearted.

"Don't trouble yourself over it. Trust me, Meme is going to give you a hard time…but," he shifted over patting the ground next to him, "I'm a forgiving guy. You must have grown up harsh to, instead of screaming for help you took action upon yourself." Svetty nodded, it was true.

"I'm from Neall." She sat herself next to the man, peering over at his sketch. "It's lovely."

"Figured, the sky after a storm is breathtaking." He shifted the sketch over giving her a clearer view. It was a pencil sketch of the sky after a storm, one part showing dark clouds parting and the other much lighter. "Neall, agh yeah. Revolution does strange things to people." He smiled, showing those shark teeth off. "I'm guessing you were a ruffkin?" Using the slang term for proletariat, she nodded.

"Mainly my parents. Sadly in one of the purges they were ummmm…" No words needed to be said. Diego patted her on the shoulder giving a nod.

"I catch your drift. Sorry to hear about that, were you alone?"

"No. My uncle on my mother's side took me in. I lived with him and my cousin making us full blown ruffkins." She laughed at the nostalgic memories, how she missed the two men.

"I'm glad you had family with you. So are the rumors true, was the king truly mad?" Svetty nodded, remembering to many horrific tales of their once murderous king.

"I never met him, but he sent those purges. I like to believe he was mad."

"I heard his wife recently died. Shame, she had potential to rule in her own right. She would of set things right. Are you ok?" Once mentioning the queen she got rather flustered.

"We are all very unhappy of our beloved queen's death that is all." Diego looked at her, his eyes analyzing her.

"I see, well I'm famished. Keep an eye on Eliza ok?" He got up packing his sketch pad and headed in for dinner. The girl was so quiet Svetty had nearly forgotten she was there.

"Are you hungry?" The silvery violet head shook her head, as she floated closer to her.

"Will you rise from the ashes?" The Gunner blinked in response to the stranger question.

"Vwhat?"

"You will go to the tree and rise, rise from the ashes." Eliza seemed very perplexed that she didn't understand her. "I will join you."

"N-no. Your mother would never allow you to-"

"I will join you on your journey. She will have to allow it." The young girl nodded as if agreeing with herself. "She will be happy." The girl simply turned away and left, heading inside the tavern. Leaving the poor Gunner stunned.

**Originally this was going to lead to High Lagaard, but it needed another chapter. It just go to long, and I needed to end it somewhere. Well Diego IS indeed a character that exists, and did anyone catch the foreshadowing? Don't get upset if you did not! Hopefully I'm beginning to flesh them out a bit, I'm not used to having so many characters in the beginning…. Still I kind of like it. Well hope you enjoy the preview, I'll definitely write at least one more chapter after this!**


End file.
